Note from Jon: Let me introduce this post by saying something shocking: if you want a chance in hell of being noticed online, you need to spend as much time promoting your post as you do writing it. Maybe more. The question is… how? The answer: read this guide from one of the hottest up and comers online right now, Brian Dean.

Ever notice how some blogs seem to arrive out of nowhere?

A few months earlier, you’d never even heard of the blog.

Then suddenly it’s plastered over half the Twitter and Facebook feeds in your niche.

And almost overnight, the person behind the blog is the go-to expert in the field.

Annoying, isn’t it?

After all, your content is just as good as theirs (if not better). You know just as much about your topic as they do (if not more). And you work just as hard (if not harder) promoting your work on social media.

(With 164 million blogs online, they’d have better odds of winning the lottery.)

Believe it or not, most bloggers who make a name for themselves use a strategy that’s as old school as Netscape and 56k modems.

And because it may not initially seem as exciting as a new traffic technique or the latest social media network, most bloggers overlook this time-tested approach, even though it often leads to explosive blog growth.

But let’s reveal exactly how you can use this untapped strategy to grow your blog quicker than you ever thought possible.

The Simple Secret to Suspiciously Rapid Blog Growth

When a new blog gets traction quickly, something specific is usually going on behind the scenes.

Until now, the details of exactly how these bloggers achieved such rapid growth were known only to a select few, but it’s time to blow this thing wide open.

The strategy these out of nowhere bloggers use to supercharge their blogs’ expansion is blogger outreach.

While you may not have heard this term before, the idea behind blogger outreach is actually quite simple:

Instead of sharing your content on social media (and hoping an influencer notices it), you put your content directly in front of the movers and shakers in your niche.

“Wait, do you mean randomly emailing bloggers to let them know I exist?”

Not exactly. It requires a little more planning than that.

But like many other things in life, blogger outreach is a skill you can easily learn.

And when you master it, the rewards will come thick and fast.

Before long, you’ll find yourself with the following:

More mentions and inbound links from other blogs in your niche

More social shares of every piece of content you publish

More loyal fans and email subscribers

More invites to interviews and roundup posts

The only question – how can you tap into the outreach process for your blog?

Take the following five crucial steps:

Step #1: Identify Influential Bloggers (Your “Hit List”)

Create your hit list – the set of bloggers in your niche that you want to build relationships with and whose networks you’d love to tap into.

Start by using Excel (or Google Drive) to create a spreadsheet with a list of influential blogs in your niche. For each blog, your aim is to find out about the blogger behind it, together with their contact details.

Now this may feel a bit creepy at first, but all you’re really doing is adding a little structure to your outreach efforts.

And your list doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Something like the following is a good start:

Finding the blogger is usually fairly easy – simply check out the blog’s About Page.

Fields like Twitter and Facebook should be easy to fill out too.

The contact information can be a bit trickier though. The best-case scenario is to land the blogger’s email address. However, many high-profile bloggers prefer to use a contact form and that’s your second-best option. If you can’t find that, consider reaching out to them on Twitter to ask how you can get in touch.

The first set of entries in your list should be blogs from your mental Rolodex. These are the blogs you visit or refer to on a regular basis.

For example, let’s say you run a blog about low-carb recipes. Right off the bat, blogs like Simply Recipes and Smitten Kitchen would probably spring to mind and contribute to the first batch of blogs in your spreadsheet.

Don’t be too picky about the blogs you include in your spreadsheet at this stage. This is a raw list that you’ll refine later.

Once you’ve added the obvious blogs from memory, do some research to add important blogs that aren’t yet on your radar.

4 Killer Tools to Fast-Track Your Blogger Research

Good research relies on using the right tools, and a number of free tools will help you build your outreach target list.

AllTop

Alltop is a curated list of quality blogs in almost every industry. And it’s a great way to find blogs that aren’t already familiar to you.

To find relevant blogs on Alltop, you first want to enter a keyword into the search field that describes what your blog is about. Use broad keywords (like marketing) rather than niche keywords (like email marketing).

Technorati

Head to their homepage and click on the Blogs button next to the search field:

Enter your keywords and click the search icon:

And once again add any promising blogs that you find to your hit list.

FollowerWonk

Moz’s FollowerWonk takes a slightly different approach to identifying influential blogs. Instead of searching for blogs, you search for the influential people behind them.

After you create an account (you can sign in with Twitter), click on Search Twitter bios:

Then type in a relevant keyword:

FollowerWonk will return a list of Twitter users whose bios include your keyword, which you can easily sort by number of followers or Social Authority (more on this later).

When you find an influential user, click through to their Twitter profile to see if they link to a blog. If so, add them to your hit list. And make a note of their follower count and Social Authority score because those will come in handy later.

Note – you’ll generally find a more diverse range of results in FollowerWonk than Technorati or AllTop (not all will be relevant) so be prepared to do a bit of digging and use your best judgment for which to include.

Google Search

Google is a great place to look for influential blogs because if a blog is showing up in searches, it has a lot of authority in Google’s eyes. So if you can land a link from a blog that is already ranking well in Google, you should get a nice bump in the search engine traffic for your own blog.

Use keywords that describe the topics your blog tends to cover most often. However, unlike the tools above, you don’t want to use broad keywords like cooking or baking. Google tends to list massive authority sites for single-word keywords like that – not blogs that you’ll realistically be able to reach out to.

Instead, you’ll need to search for long tail keywords – such as low carb baking – as these tend to give you the blog results you need.

A few ways are available to generate long-tail keyword ideas.

First, take a look at what keywords you use in your blog post titles. Whether you’ve deliberately included specific keywords for SEO purposes or not, these will help you find other blogs that cover similar topics.

When you search for these keywords in Google, you can also head down to the bottom of the search results and look for an area marked searches related to:

You can then click those secondary keywords to generate other long-tail searches related to your original query.

Repeat this process several times until you run out of keywords that are relevant to your blog’s topic. Each time you find a promising blog, add it to your list and enter the other details.

By the end of this step, you’ll have a rough list of blogs and bloggers that will drive your outreach efforts.

Nice work! You’ve already separated yourself from 99 percent of bloggers out there that haphazardly email people hoping to get a response.

How many blogs should you have in your list?

The total number of blogs in your hit list depends on your niche. If you run a blog on a relatively narrow topic (like pottery), you’ll have significantly fewer blogs on your list than if you had a blog about internet marketing.

As long as you have at least 30 blogs on your list, you’re good to go.

But before you actually start blasting out messages, you’ll want to separate your list into tiers so you can focus your efforts in the right places.

Step #2: Separate Your Target Bloggers Into Tiers

Let’s face facts: not all blogs are created equal. Some blogs are big, well respected and get tons of traffic and engagement. Others, well, not so much.

One of the most common mistakes that people make with blogger outreach is using the same approach for every blog on their list.

That makes ZERO sense.

To get the most from your outreach, you need to divide your target bloggers into two or three different tiers. That way, you can give industry leaders the TLC they need … while taking a more direct approach with everyone else.

But how do you know which bloggers deserve the red carpet treatment? And how can you tell which bloggers may not be worth contacting at all?

First, you want to add three new columns to your spreadsheet: Social Authority, Domain Authority and Comments:

Once you’ve done that, fill in your spreadsheet with this new data.

Use the following tips to do so.

Social Authority

Social Authority is a smarter social metric that takes into account not just the number of followers a user has on Twitter, but also the influence of those followers. If someone is followed by, say, Justin Bieber, that will carry more weight than 1,000 followers with much lower influence.

So for those bloggers you didn’t originally find via FollowerWonk, use that tool again to find their Social Authority by entering their @username handle into the same Search Twitter bios screen you used before.

Domain Authority

As an SEO guy, I prefer to use SEO metrics when evaluating bloggers. Like Twitter followers, search engine authority metrics tend to correlate with influence and reach.

You can easily check a blog’s authority by entering the homepage URL into Open Site Explorer:

And looking at the blog’s Domain Authority:

The higher the Domain Authority, the more influence the site has (at least in Google).

Blog Comments

The average number of comments a blog attracts for its posts is another useful metric, because while Copyblogger-level influence is nice, it’s not always necessary.

You can sometimes get more traffic and exposure from a link on a smaller blog with a passionate following than on a more authoritative site with less engagement.

A high average number of comments is a sign of a tightly-knit community.

What about the other social media networks?

Depending on your niche, a blogger’s following on sites like YouTube and Pinterest may be better indicators of their blog’s influence than Twitter or Facebook. For example, Pinterest is extremely popular in the baking blogosphere, while fitness freaks tend to flock to YouTube.

Now let’s separate the prospects into tiers.

This can be a bit tricky because you’re looking at a number of different variables at once. In my experience, the easiest approach is to sort your list by Domain Authority because it correlates directly with traffic and search engine ranking power.

If you see any outliers (for example, a blog with a ton of comments and Twitter followers and low Domain Authority), you can move them up or down accordingly.

Once you’ve done that, you should cross the lowest influence blogs off your list. So blogs that have little to no Domain Authority, blog post interaction or social media presence should be deleted.

Remember: you don’t need to be too precise here – these metrics are only a guideline. But prospecting is an important step because it tells you who to spend most of your precious time on … and who you can approach with a straight email pitch.

Step #3: Divide and Conquer

Now that you have your targets tiered up, it’s time for the fun stuff – getting on the radar screen of your blogger targets.

The beauty of using tiers is that you can start building relationships with Tier 1 bloggers as you reap quick wins from the low-hanging-fruit Tier 2 and Tier 3 blogs.

I like to call this The Divide and Conquer Strategy.

First, start warming up any Tier 1 sites. A few ways to get on their radar screen are:

1) Share their content

You’d be surprised how many bloggers (even those with tens of thousands of followers) watch their mentions like a hawk. When you share their content on a consistent basis, they’ll start to take notice.

Make sure to mention their blog’s handle by using “@” on Twitter or “+” on Google+ so that they actually see your share.

You’ll also want to add a brief description to show that you read and enjoyed the post. Even something simple like “Great insights by @JonMorrow” is enough. But on a platform that gives you room to add some additional insights (like Google+), you want to add a little more detail. That way, when the blogger sees your share, you’ll stick in their mind.

2) Respond to questions on social media

Some bloggers LOVE to ask questions to their social media followers, like this:

This is a golden opportunity for you to add value and establish a small space in their brain.

3) Comment on their blog

Leaving insightful comments is one of the best ways to warm up an influential blogger. Just make sure that your comments add genuine value to the conversation.

Generic “great post!” comments won’t get you anywhere, so write something that’s complimentary and adds a new angle or perspective on the blogger’s post (I prefer to tell a little story that illustrates the blogger’s point.)

4) Send a complimentary email

If you want to be more direct, a brief email that tells them that you’re enjoying their content is a great approach. In fact, I’ve used short-and-sweet ego-boosting emails to build relationships with dozens of influencers in several different industries that I’m involved with.

The following is an example of what your email should look like:

Subject: I’m loving BLOG NAME

Hey BLOGGER NAME,

Just wanted to reach out to say “thanks” for all the stuff you’ve been publishing lately at BLOG.

(I actually used the STRATEGY you recommend in RECENT POST and I got BENEFIT)

Keep up the awesome work

Cheers,

YOUR NAME

Pro Tip: Sign up to the influencer’s email list and see if they ask you to reply with a question or something that you’re struggling with (which is becoming more and more common in autoresponder sequences). Then reply with your ego-boosting email.

5) Point out broken links

A creative way to get another blogger’s attention is to find any broken or outdated links on their site and let them know. Because let’s face it, no serious blogger wants broken links.

The Chrome extension Check My Links makes finding broken links a breeze and once you’ve got a list, find working replacements (either updated URLs or content that covers a similar topic) for each one.

Finally, drop the blogger an email letting them know you stumbled upon a few broken links and wanted to lend a hand.

6) Offer to improve a resource

Does a resource or feature on the blogger’s site need a paintjob? For example, is a feature not working properly or is a page in need of an update? A fantastic way to get on another blogger’s radar while providing value is to offer to improve a page on their site.

For example, at the bottom of this popular post at Smart Passive Income, you’ll notice this paragraph:

As you can see, Eric simply added value to Pat’s resource, earning him a link and a relationship.

While your Tier 1 prospects are still warming up, you can skip straight to the next step (reaching out) for your Tier 2 and 3 blogs, since they don’t merit the special treatment of the top tier blogs.

Then, when your Tier 1 blogs are ready to rock, execute the same strategies with them.

Step #4: Reach Out

You’ve done the hard work of creating a hit list and warming up the movers and shakers in your niche.

Now it’s time to move in for the kill.

Keep in mind that the outreach tactic you use will depend on your specific goal:

Looking for a tweet of your latest post? A simple content pitch by email will do the job.

Hoping for a quality backlink to your site? I have a script for that too!

You get the idea

So, let’s review my personal Blogger Outreach Swiss Army Knife.

Ideally you’d send your messages using an email address you found in Step #1.

If you weren’t able to snag an email, you can also send these using the blog’s contact form.

The following are some typical outreach goals together with tried and tested scripts that get results:

Goal #1: Get bloggers to see (and share) your content

If you have content that you want to be shared on social media or mentioned in a blog post, you need to get it directly in front of people with access to a large audience. That means the people on your hit list.

Obviously, you won’t get 100% of the people you approach to share your post. But even a handful of mentions from influential bloggers will put your content on the path to viral status.

The following email script works well:

Subject: Article I think you’d enjoy

Hey BLOGGER NAME,

As someone that loves writing about TOPIC, I just wanted to give you a heads up about a post I just put together on TOPIC:

URL

Just thought you’d get a kick out of it!

Keep up the awesome work at BLOG NAME.

Cheers,

YOUR NAME

Because you’re not asking for anything, you don’t need an elaborate message. A short-and-sweet email that gets your content in front of them is enough.

Goal #2: Get guest blog placements with ease

Quality blogs are picky about the guest posts they publish and rightfully so – guest contributions are a reflection of their blog’s brand.

I first want to start off by saying I’m a huge fan of BLOG (you may have noticed my comment from your last post. LOVE that post. I literally printed it out and have it sitting on my desk as a reference).

Anyway, I was checking out some of your other posts and noticed that you published a guest post from NAME.

It got me thinking: I’d love to be your next guest author!

Here are a few topics that I think BLOG readers would get a ton of value from:

TOPIC #1

TOPIC #2

TOPIC #3

To give you an idea of the quality that I bring to the table, here are a few posts that I’ve recently published:

URL #1

URL #2

Let me know what you think. : )

Cheers,

YOUR NAME

Goal #3: Get quality backlinks to your site

Blogger outreach is also one of the best ways to build high-quality links to your blog, which are the bedrock of good SEO.

The first step is to check for a resource page on the blog, like this one from The Baker’s Guide:

If a site has no resource page, look for any big list posts (for example, “100 ways to decorate your cake”).

Then, find a piece of content on your site that would add value to that page or post.

And use the following script:

Subject: Your TOPIC resource page

Hey BLOGGER NAME,

Just wanted to drop by and say that I really enjoyed your last post on TOPIC. I actually tweeted it out to my followers seconds after finishing the last sentence (it was that good).

Anyway, I was checking out some of your other content and noticed your TOPIC resource page.

Great list! I don’t know how I missed EXAMPLE.

I actually just published something on TOPIC that I’ve been getting some great feedback on:

URL

It’s a DESCRIPTION.

Might make a nice addition to your resource page.

Either way, keep up the awesome work with SITE!

Cheers,

YOUR NAME

Because you’re looking for a link, you need to be a bit more direct (but not too direct) about what you’re looking for. I find that this email straddles the line between call to action and FYI.

What if I want to ask for something else?

Obviously, if you’d like to accomplish something else with your email, you’ll want to create a script specific to that purpose.

But the same principles from these email templates (complimentary, not-pushy, brief and to the point) should form the foundation of any outreach message you send.

Once you’ve had some outreach successes, take things to the next level.

Step #5: Grow the Relationship

Now that you’ve reached out to a blogger and added some value to their blog, it’s time to turn your one-off transaction into a, well, relationship.

The following are some ideas for doing just that.

Idea #1: Thank them for their help

Did one of your new blogger friends share a post on LinkedIn or accept one of your guest contributions? Don’t be too proud to thank them for their help.

Showing appreciation even after you got what you want is yet another way to separate you from the other people who are looking for transactional relationships.

Idea #2: Take your relationship on Skype

A great way to have a real conversation with another blogger is to add them on Skype.

Skype is a warmer, more personal medium than email. Just say, “Here’s my Skype ID if you ever want to talk shop.”

That way, there’s no pressure but you’ve allowed them to take the relationship to the next level if they wish.

Once you’re on Skype, ask (non-intrusive) questions about their life outside and inside of their blog. Did they see the Patriot’s comeback the other day? How do they feel about the big article in your industry?

As with any conversation – either online or offline – the goal is to get the other person to relax and open up so you can connect. And Skype makes that easy.

Idea #3: Grow together with a joint venture

If you feel that you could grow the other blogger’s business, a Joint Venture (JV) might be in order.

Start small with something like an infographic JV or a co-authored post. Over time, you may begin to do more and more involved projects together.

Just remember that if you’re dealing with a big-name blogger, they get JV pitches all the time. So only make your pitch to big names if you feel that it’s a lopsided deal that’s going to help them more than help you.

The relationship that you build with a JV is usually worth 10 times more than the project itself.

Idea #4: Build your relationship offline

Does your new blogger friend live nearby? Or maybe you guys are going to the same conference next month?

Either way, meeting offline is the best way to build a living, breathing relationship with another blogger.

What Are You Waiting For?

It might be unashamedly old school, but I’m sure you can see the enormous untapped potential of blogger outreach.

By carving out a few minutes of your day to drop comments on some of the right blogs (or send emails to some of the right people ), you’ll instantly separate yourself from the thousands of bloggers who continue to publish content and simply HOPE that an influencer sees it and shares it.

Because you won’t be a single voice struggling to be heard above the noise – you’ll be standing on the shoulders of some of the biggest players in your niche.

Suddenly you’ll be the blogger that arrived out of nowhere.

And when people ask you how you did it, you don’t have to spill the beans.

Blogger outreach can be our little secret. : )

About the author: Brian is the SEO-obsessed founder of Backlinko, a Technorati Top 100 Business Blog that boasts over 45,000 monthly visitors. Why so popular? Well his looks have nothing to do with it (OK maybe a little). It’s because he provides insanely practical advice that people like you can use to
grow their business, like this free video.

Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free
by Brian Dean

Brian now i understand why you were sharing other bloggers content in twitter to make relationship and later get your content shared by them, Great ethical strategy, Though i red this in many blogs but never serious about this but now i should pay attention to this.

Glad you liked the post, Sachin. Just to be clear: I share 90% of the times for the simple reason that I think my audience would appreciate it. It’s just a nice bonus that the people that tend to produce great stuff in my space are the same people I’d like to get in touch with

I have re-structured all my SEO strategy and now following all tips and strategies you shared in your blog(Backlinko) My personal favorite is “17( powerful) yet untapped source” with this post making the room.

I request you to please share list of all blogs where you guest post, I don’t want to miss single post.

This post came at a great time, I am currently involved in doing blogger outreach and been finding it quite difficult to really weed out the influencers!

I definitely agree with a point you made to make sure that you actually spend time reading a couple posts on the potential influencers blog, everyone loves to know their content is being read and not just skimmed.

Great idea on pointing out broken links! Never thought of doing that but like you said, every blogger (including myself!) would appreciate knowing if there are any broken links on their site.

Nice post! The most interesting thing for me is the one about broken links: I hate when I find them on my blog and I’m really happy if someone point out them to me!
Pinned!
MammaNene @ SergerPepper.com

You’re A Great Researcher . I’m Wondered in your First Questions on this Article, Will be hope You Can Read My Mind Magically
Your Thinks Are True for compare In My Blogging Journey.
Thank You Brian For Sharing Us Great Tips .

Brian, thanks so much for the informative, detailed, enthusiastic and actionable kick in the ass I needed! This is exactly what’s been missing in my life. Massive thanks, and do keep up the great work.

Super useful post Brian. I keep a tab in Evernote to collect bloggers that I may want to reach out to. Now I can use your spreadsheet to get them ranked. Can you comment on if it is bad form to send a link to the same post to multiple bloggers? Or if it’s OK to send emails to multiple bloggers at the same time? If you don’t get a response, do you ever try again at a certain point in the future?

Good question, Mark. I just put those because they tend to be the most commonly used. In some niches (like crafts and cooking), Pinterest is actually 10x more important than other platforms. So it depends on the industry you’re in.

Hey Brian,
Call it providence or whatever! This post was exactly what I was looking for – a structured blogger outreach approach. Amazing post! I just signed up on your blog!
I have a question about offering to improve a resource… doesn’t that seem a little presumptuous? Shouldn’t we really have a very specific (and indisputable!) idea to suggest that something is out of place?

Thanks Arifit. You’re right: that can definitely come off as presumptuous if you’re not careful. That’s why getting on the blogger’s radar screen first is so important. But in either case, (as you said) you want a specific improvement to suggest to them.

Great post, Brian. This might be one I print out and keep on my bulletin board! I’m a student of Jon’s and I’m orchestrating my blog launch now – this is the next phase of relationship-building I have to master in order to grow like I want to this year.

Love all your suggestions and the research tools. Thanks for the excellent work. (I’ve signed up at your blog as well – I like your approach.)

Great tips here — seems like great minds are thinking alike this morning. I’ve got a fresh post full of tips on connecting with top bloggers, but my emphasis is on how NOT to do it, based on pitches I’ve gotten recently: How to Aggravate Top Bloggers So They’ll Never Help You: http://www.makealivingwriting.com/aggravate-popular-bloggers/

2 additional suggestions for Step #1, when you’re trying to identify other bloggers in your niche:

1) Although they don’t seem to be as popular as they once was, if a blog within your domain has a blogroll, then that’s a good way to find other blogs within that domain. Alternatively, sometimes a blog as a separate page dedicated to resources or links listing other blogs within their area.

2) When you identify a blogger (or bloggers) for a blog within your domain, google that person’s name with the keywords “guest post” or “guest blogger” and see if you can find articles that person has done for *other* blogs. Those other blogs could also be within your area.

Thank you so much for this generous and thorough blog post, Brian. As a health coach and healthy recipes blogger, I’m definitely trying to increase my outreach and I can’t wait to use these techniques to help me to do so. Will definitely be sharing this!

Your post is packed with useful tools. You explain why these tools work and how they should be used without getting lost in the SEO weeds. You teach that true influence comes from a sense of community and respect.

I have a question. How do you feel about using Klout or PeerIndex to evaluate a blogger’s social authority?

I kept thinking about what really makes a blogger successful “overnight” while reading your post. Successful blogging comes from hard work, dedication and continual focus. Thank you taking the time to write such an outstanding post, Brian.

I’m not a huge Klout fan to be honest. I think Followerwonk is more accurate (one tool I didn’t mention that I’ve had luck with recently is twtrland). And I haven’t used PeerIndex so I can’t comment on that.

You’re right about continual focus. That’s probably #1. A lot of people will start step #1 from this post and never follow through. Those that do…even when things get boring or difficult…will come out on top

Lots of good advice here, but I want to plead with anybody planning to approach a blogger to READ THE BLOG. I get dozens of queries a week from people who use templates like these and claim to be a “big fan” of the blog, and then pitch guest posts on everything from how to finance your retirement to travel pieces to “Japanese love culture”.

It’s a high profile publishing industry blog. A 30 second visit would tell you that. Another minute and you could go to the “contact us” page and see our guest post guidelines.

Bloggers are people, not prey. Treat us with respect. If you really expect to be considered for a guest spot or a mention, comment a couple of times before approaching. Offer something of value: don’t just beg, whine, or bully.

Jon’s tips for good comments and creating a relationship with bloggers are great.

Preach it Anne. I appreciate you chiming in from the recipients point of view. You’re right that a lot of people abuse the process and basically spam (as an SEO, I’ve seen “outreach” performed on a disturbing scale). Great insights

I think the comments say it all – great post, Brian. As with most things in life, I think it’s also true for blogger outreach – what you get out is directly proportional to what you put in. It’s not a quick win, but with a bit of effort it pays big dividends. And there are tools out there now that take away some of the pain – knowing which blogs are the best ones and kicking annoying spreadsheets into touch

First, wow Brian when you set out to write a post you really write a post!

I wonder if you can answer this question? I read a lot of blogs but don’t always comment. Yet, many of the blogs I do read (for technical know-how/information) would not necessarily be appropriate for what I do for a living (more newbie oriented, so I have to watch like a hawk for “spammy” authority figures). But getting back to the true authority angle, their irresistible attraction (and popularity) always plays in my mind – get onto their radar. Sorry… Long winded, but my question is, “Does this makes sense in the scheme of what you’ve outlined? To grab big name attention to help spread “newbie assisting” material?”

Also, I just wanted to comment that the Moz Open Site Explorer will only give you the more detailed information (the important stuff) if you upgrade to Pro. That could be outside the financial means for some at the moment.

But, then again, following your extremely detailed how-to could make all the difference (financially) in a “shorter” period of time.

Off to make sure I’m following you (I believe so, but I want to MAKE SURE).

Oh, and I’m not going to print this out. I’m going to copy and paste it into Word so that all your reference points are immediately clickable.)

Honestly, although there’s a lot of technical stuff in this post, I wouldn’t overthink outreach. If there’s a blog that you legitimately enjoy reading, then I’d leave a comment to let him or her know that. If they’re not a perfect fit? No biggie. The idea is really to build relationships with people that you respect and admire.

This is lovely and helpful. I will try to tailor it to my subculture genre blog. It’s a bit trickier, like AllTop doesn’t even have a category for my genre, but there are lots of other blogs with authority and exciting content I would like to tap into. Thank you for these wonderful ideas and step by step plans. It’s just about foolproof if you put the work into it! Jon, thanks for having Brian! So much info, I need to reread a couple time

Blogger outreach has been around for years now and is very, very sophisticated…still it’s surprising how many marketers are unaware of this growing tactic. Surprised GroupHigh or Buzzstream isn’t on the tools list. Great article nonetheless!

I hear you on that, Marcos. I think that a lot of people are looking for the next big thing and forget something as old school and email outreach can work. I like GroupHigh and Buzzstream but wanted to keep this more as an intro to how outreach works.

Brian,
Thanks for the excellent detail in this article. Blogger outreach is something that I think a lot of bloggers do, but very few do it in such an organized way. If you’re just randomly reaching out to people it may work, but it may break down at some point in the process. Having a step-by-step process like the one you’ve laid it can make all the difference.

This is one of the best posts I’ve read in a while (and I’ve done my share of reading!). I’ve read blogs that offer tips but not the actual how-to unless the reader indulges in a paid program. Here you offer a blueprint to building a beneficial online presence and making valuable connections.

What a find! Thank you so much, Brian. This post has just found a home in my bookmark library.

This is a fantastic post, who knew you were also a great writer as well as SEO guru?

I couldn’t agree more with how important outreach is, I think these days the message gets lost as everyone is looking for a quick fix or a hack to get traffic, but they forget what traffic is – its people.

Therefore its a necessity to network with others in your space who are making great work and already have a audience.

I personally used networking and outreach to land a pretty impressive interview with probably the best SEO guy online right now so I can testify to how effective of a strategy it it.

The funny thing is that the more successful the influencer is usually the more they want to give back, its certainly true in your case Brian thanks for the opportunity!

I always love reading you posts I cant wait for the next one, no matter where it is. I’m glad you posted here, this is quickly becoming a real powerhouse of a blog and I guess that has to do with the caliber of bloggers on here and the fantastic articles that get published… so congratulations Jon for creating another incredible blog, you make it look too easy

Yep I know how good they are – I have had my articles edited by Glen and he has helped me improve my writing so much. Its funny how just a few changes can make such a big difference.

Lisa Marino
Mar 07, 2014 @
19:00:55

Brian, this was the most informative blog post I have read in a looooooong time and I can’t thank you enough for writing about this topic. I work at a digital marketing agency and blogger outreach is something that I am constantly working on to improve. Your post gave me a ton of new insight that I will definitely be using in the near future….I especially LOVED the free tools you mentioned! Thanks so much.

Wow! This post has totally blown me away. What an incredibly generous share of your time and knowledge – thank you. I’m certainly going to be putting your tips to use for my shiny new blog: http://www.thatnorfolkmum.wordpress.com

Thank you for such useful information. Recently, after guest posting on a big mommy site, I sent a quick thank you email even though I knew the blogger was busy and had a little worry that she might just think I wanted “more.” But instead she thanked me and asked me to send her more pitches. It was a great lesson – always follow up and be grateful for opportunities bigger bloggers give you on their site.

Bloggers are real people that appreciate a thank you. Thanks for a great post!

Thanks for sharing your story, Amy. I think lots of people over-think outreach (and marketing in general). I imagine that you were just doing what you’d do in real life: thank someone for giving you an opportunity. And so it is with online outreach

Found this post through Anne R. Allen’s blog today. Thanks for going over everything in detail and giving step-by-step instructions. Some of it I’m already doing, but now I understand why it works and how to do it better.
My blog is in a good place, so at the moment I’m focusing on getting the word out about my writing database site, the IWSG. This will definitely help!

Thanks Spencer. I also like buzzstream. But I find that it’s best for large scale/team-based outreach. For baller-focused outreach like this (where your target list may be as small as 30 people), Excel does the job

Wow. I am amazed at some of this info especially about searching for dead links. I will get on this! I just subscribed to your blog although I promised myself ‘no more subscribing’ for a while I get so much email!

This is an excellent post. Leanne Regalla told me to check out this post after I asked her a question based on reaching out to blogs. I love that you provided examples. Great comprehensive work. Be blessed.

Thank you, Brian, for the great directions you gave here. As for outreaching for mentions, it would be always easier when you’ve really put the work to write something outstanding or at least pretty useful.

The crazy thing about blogger outreach in my mind, Brian, is that some bloggers just don’t think it will work.

I’ve had several bloggers in my niche ask me how to get more shares, likes, etc. because they know I’m big into internet marketing and blogging for more than just a personal hobby. Yet when I suggest guest posting and blogger outreach, they wave a hand dismissively and say, “That’s too much work. I meant something that’s more immediate.”

That’s exactly my point, Dave. Unfortunately, it seems like lots of bloggers don’t know about any sort of valuable tactics like these specifically because they don’t WANT to know about them (and consequently have to deal with them).

[…] Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free: The secret to rapid blog growth is putting your content directly in front of the movers and shakers in your niche. Read more. […]

Brian, I’m a writer, and marketer, which means I’m a reader, and researcher. I just wanted to tell you this is honestly one of the best things I’ve ever read on the topic of growing an audience for a blog. Thank you–it’s a modern PR/community relations plan for the digital marketer!

Good advice, Brian. The one caveat I would make is to be careful when pointing out mistakes or errors like broken links. I know a lot of bloggers who get annoyed when they get ticky-tack emails correcting spelling or grammar mistakes, and they are more annoyed than they are appreciative. In theory, sure it should be helpful to point that kind of thing out but I think a lot of bloggers react like “ugh… something else I need to do.”

Otherwise, great advice – I couldn’t have said it any better myself. : )

Hi Brian, thanks for this useful post!
I opened my blog a few months ago and as you can imagine I’m struggling to get known around!
Between SEO, keywords, social media strategies, I didn’t think about blogger outreach!
Sure it’s a jungle out there

Hey! Amazing post! I have one question though. I have found that a lot of Tier 2 and Tier 3 bloggers offer paid advertising though them, even though they are clearly not that big. I mean their prices are not sky high, but whenever i land on their either contact me or advertise with us page they let you know right of the bat that if you want to have anything put on their blog or to do anything with them, it has a price tag attached to it. How would you suggest to go about that?

Good question. I don’t think the fact that they advertise precludes them from building relationships with other bloggers in their space (which is what we are doing here). So I’d treat them like any other blogger.

very useful information for me.
Your tips really helped me, because I was just learning to play the blog.
thanks brian.
I am very happy if you are willing to visit my blog and guide me http://robertkarnanto-home.blogspot.com/

Just wanted to say great article; genuinely well written and very insightful. I do find it refreshing when experts share their strategies and approaches. Thanks again for sharing, I found it really useful.

I’ve come to learn that building a following is a huge time investment (which can be difficult if you’re also trying to earn a living, stay healthy, maintain your personal relationships, have a bit of downtime and do all the other things imperative for a happy life). It takes time, consistency and patience to do all of the things you’ve listed above. (And even then there are still no guarantees.) But it’s a great road map. Thanks again. I will definitely be putting it to good use.

Hey Brian, another great post. One reminder, for those who may be new to OSE, is to be mindful of subdomains (i.e. someblog.blogspot.com) that’ll give you a misleading domain authority #. I prefer to cross-check with Page Authority # in this case to get a general read on overall authority of the blog in question.

Also, I was curious what your thoughts were when doing outreach on behalf of a brand. So, let’s say you’re an inhouse content marketer or you’re working on behalf of a client. Do you do outreach (e.g. comments, retweets) as yourself (i.e. Brian Dean) or as “Brand X” (i.e. @BrandX Twitter account for example)? Or is there a hybrid approach, for example, where you might retweet from your personal account (to build your personal brand and rapport w/ the target), but make sure your personal account clearly states that you work for “Brand X?” Curious to hear your thoughts on how you balance this.

Hi Brian, love the post! It almost feels like this is a secret and you shouldn’t be sharing it! Lol but I’m so glad you did. Keep up the good work! I had already started my hit list, but I can now add you too it

Interesting. I believe as with everything that requires reaching out to people, it all comes to you as a person. I must be resourceful, you must be patient and once you finally got the chance to actually talk to your influencer, you must be a person, someone who is pleasant to talk to, some one who inspires confidence, only one who can be trusted can reach to others.

Love the actionable tips! We had tried more lengthy emails and communication to bloggers in the past with other brands and projects without much success. It looks like you’re approach to short emails, quick communication, keeping it to the point would be the best way to go about it, especially for those tier 1 types of sites. Having the email templates to start from is really valuable, thanks!

[…] ideas, especially in the area of link building, content promotion and SEO. His recent post – Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free – on Jon Morrow’s blog, Boost Blog Traffic, was recognized by the editors of Moz and widely […]

That’s one great post, Brian. The idea to divide the bloggers based on their authority is amazing. What I have realized from your post is that blogger outreach is not a quick-work-and-get-results type of work. It takes significant amount of time and efforts to first get noticed, provide value to the bloggers and build a relationship. However, these efforts bring results that last longer and have greater impact.

[…] Castro Matos, Head of Marketing at GetSocial Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free If you’re a marketer trying to promote your brand and content all over the world, this is […]

Great article. I would really try this with my team. I love the idea of splitting the entire strategy to tiers. Something would help in giving specific target material for them as a group.
Like other posts of yours this is detailed and very helpful. Thanks.

Brian,
This is an absolute jewel! My daughter suggested that I reach out to bloggers in my niche and I immediately began to do so. I went for the heavy hitters first with the direct message rather than relationship building. Your strategy probably would have gotten me better results. The positive thing about my failure is that I looked for a better way and now I have a step by step method to accomplish my objective of getting my message out. Awesome!

[…] influential people, but best step-by-step approach can be found in this post by Brian Dean – Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free. Brian lays out an exact plan that you can put into practice to identify and connect with […]

Outstanding, I found this post absolutely effective. I must say that I differ from using Excel, I found that Evernote is as good and even faster to use than Excel for the purpose of this great post. I really learned from it and I had save it, guess where, on evernote. Brian, Thanks for all those great tips, websites and advice.

Amazing article thank you so much. I’m going to apply everything you say in it and I’ll get back to you with the results. I feel like I have just read content I could have paid for. Incredible value. I appreciate that you took the time to provide letter examples. It’s really reassuring to have everything to get started like that.

I’m with you, Laura! We should have just PAID for this! Wowzers! I am so glad I found this blog through Entrepreneur on Fire… what a wellspring! My sister and I have been struggling with the right approaches to build relationships with bigger bloggers to propel the success of our new podcast. BAM – just found our strategy laid out step-by-step right here! Thank you so much, Brian.

Hi Brian, it’s my first time to here about you and your great blog Backlinko, thanks to this wonderful post.

So I stopped everything I was ding to focus on this post and trust me it really was worth my while.

I have now copied your script and have created my own “Hit List” and do you know you were the first person I could think of? That said. I’m going to so buzz you all of the time. Hope you don’t mind, Brian?

So speaking of this post, it’s one of the few great post have read this week….that I feel I’ve all my life missed you and your posts, maybe that’s why I still am not so successful.

I used some of the tools you mentioned and I’m already enjoying them…Thanks so much for this great share and I’d do well to keep tab with you on social networks, plus your blog too.

[…] on how you go about making connections. Brian Dean wrote an excellent post on blogger outreach, Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free, where he lays out a step-by-step guide for finding influential people and connecting with them. […]

As a [painfully] beginning style blogger, I was very lost when it came to promoting my blog outside of Facebook, etc. Thank you so much for this advice, you made everything sound so simple and straightforward – I have read many other blogging advice websites/blogs, but this gave me the most insight so far. I wouldn’t have realized that pointing out broken links is a good outreach tactic until I saw it on here! Keep up the great work! You’re helping everyone so much:)

I thought this was one of the best and most productive structures on how to actually go out there and make your presence felt – this is a 10,000 foot view on how to become an authority in your niche or expertise – this is my first time to BBT.com, wont be my last, thanks!

Brian Dean and Jon Morrow in one place, it’s a dream come true! Thanks for getting Brian to share this. I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach blogger outreach in a logical way and this was perfect. I’m building my rolodex now!

[…] with and start following them through their blogs and social media (Brian Dean wrote an excellent guide to blogger outreach). One of my favorite ways to build strong connections with other bloggers is to write guest […]

Captn jackboot
Jul 22, 2014 @
22:42:43

Not sure what all the butt kissing is about here…terrible post. You really think pointing out broken links to someone is going to get you pals and link backs ? The only useful,advice is what everyone already knows…guest posting. The rest is a waste of time

[…] Outreach – This is where things get confusing. While great blog posts and infographics have a poor VPH by themselves, they have an excellent VPH when paired with outreach. You have to be willing to face rejection, and your content also has to be some of the best ever published on your topic, but the long-term traffic from this strategy is excellent. Over the short term, it’s beaten by guest blogging and interviews, which is why I typically don’t recommend it until you cross 1,000 subscribers, but it is still an efficient way to get traffic when you’re a beginner. Click here for a detailed guide on how to do it. […]

Really helpful article! Many times we read blogs and websites and forget these are real people sharing their knowledge.
I like to read comments, too, just like everyone else who has a blog. More often than not, new ideas for new blog posts come from reader comments.
The idea to reach out is crucial; promotion, as you noted, is more important than content creation. The notion ‘build it and they will come’ is a myth…. at least online!

Thanks Brian, crammed a lot of info into that post. Love the easy use email suggestions when contacting influencer’s. Will put it to use.
I’ve wasted so much time on Social media with questionable results. Am looking forward to changing my strategy.

[…] Outreach – This is where things get confusing. While great blog posts and infographics have a poor VPH by themselves, they have an excellent VPH when paired with outreach. You have to be willing to face rejection, and your content also has to be some of the best ever published on your topic, but the long-term traffic from this strategy is excellent. Over the short term, it’s beaten by guest blogging and interviews, which is why I typically don’t recommend it until you cross 1,000 subscribers, but it is still an efficient way to get traffic when you’re a beginner. Click here for a detailed guide on how to do it. […]

Hi Brian!
This is a TRULY awesome post! I’m sure Jon is super proud of you!
This post has just become my bible for outreach.
You could turn it into a PDF and offer it as a freebie (would be a great content upgrade I’m sure).
Thanks SO much!
Best,
Anne

[…] Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free: The secret to rapid blog growth is putting your content directly in front of the movers and shakers in your niche. Read more. […]

This is absolutely invaluable. Thank you for putting in the time to create this truly educational and step by step guide. There’s not much else like it out there that is so digestible and user friendly. Actually smiling because you get it and now guess what? I get it too.

[…] is getting influencers in your industry to share. I suggest starting with Boost Blog Traffic’s guide to blogger outreach. The principles work for all kinds of business, not just […]

Mike
Nov 14, 2014 @
23:02:55

I remember a few years ago Ryan Deiss talking about the exact same thing. But he forgot to mention the Catch22 of the idea.

This “outreach” doesn’t work 99.99% of the time unless you already have a name or successful biz/blog/site. I have tried it and it sucks, most people NEVER replied to my emails.

Noone with a successful blog/site has the time or interest to even answering your emails in the first place. Reality!

Imagine if you had a very successful site why/how the heck would you have time/interest to listen to a greenhorn asking for help? Come on dude.

As an example the guy you alway like to refer to Pat Smart (un)passive income, I have never gotten an email reply from that guy, even thoug he always says:”If you have any questions please contact me.”

Ive been reading your posts Mr CEO and although this is not my niche I would like to say thank you.I am learning a lot.I am trying to increase the length of my post to the sweet spot in between 2000 to 3000 but since I tried that from yesterday I could barely touch 2150 words in one post.

Mike
Nov 20, 2014 @
07:18:50

Hey Premkiran.

Personally I have seen many many of my posts of only 350-500 words get better ranking, sharea and comments than articles with 2K-3K words.

Also most people are getting really tired of reading endless long posts full of fluff.

Honestly, do not try to reach any word count just because someone tells you it’s better for ranking. It’s much better to write and to get your point across with quality content. Remember it’s not the quantity but the quality that counts.

I am blown away by the detail here. And of course happy you used the example of food blogs in your post. There are so many helpful links here that I am going to be busy reading them for a while. And I am off to check out your site.

Just want to point out that if you like this content, sign up early for Brians SEO that works course
You know all those god awful JV softwares they try and sell to you?
This is the real deal
Its basically a plug and play method for performing kick ass seo and marketing

Yes there is work involved, but its so broken down into a system, if you do a,b,c, and d then your winning, as simple as that

As a digital marketer and SEO agency, we still use Brian’s methods and the course is far too cheap for what it is!

Dear Brian,
I have spent good few hours of most of my Monday reading this blog post and making sense out of it, I must congratulate you and thank you for sharing your experience and insight into nitty-gritty of what is needed to increase domain authority, how to go about it, and probably the proven strategy. I am a technical food blogger who understands code and loves cooking more than I understand SEO. Although the article is very Impressive and I am starting to implement your advice starting right now… would it be possible for you if i request you to take a look at my blog http://www.chefdehome.com and recommend what you think is first and foremost that I need to improve on my blog / social outreach to increase my blogger outreach.